A Melbourne court building has been declared safe after a bomb threat caused 200 people to evacuate and major city streets were shut down for two hours.
The Melbourne Magistrates' Court was evacuated just before 11.30am (AEDT) on Tuesday after a staff member received a threatening phone call.
Court clerks ordered people to evacuate and alarms sounded as police surrounded the William St building.
Major city thoroughfares were blocked off during the incident and people from neighbouring buildings left voluntarily.
Acting Senior Sergeant Stuart Watt told reporters the building was evacuated as a precaution.
Staff were then allowed to return to search their work areas but no threat was found, he said.
"Everyone was moved away to a safe area, we investigated the threat, we're satisfied it wasn't credible," he said.
"Police are now clearing the area, traffic is resumed and all the workers have returned back to their areas."
Acting Sen Sgt Watt said investigations were underway to pinpoint the source of the hoax.
Sniffer dogs were brought to scour the building but they were not needed for the operation.
Traffic and pedestrians were blocked from entering Lonsdale St between King and Queen streets and William St between Little Bourke and Little Lonsdale streets during the incident.
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